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Skywatchers in central Australia were in one of the best spots in the world to experience the Leonids meteor storm in its full glory on Monday morning.

Among the lucky were 50 amateur and professional astronomers, camped 20 kilometres north of Alice Springs. They witnessed 600 shooting stars every 15 minutes (over 2000 per hour) during the first peak of the storm at around 3.20am ACST (17.20 UT).

"We went out around midnight to measure the background rate of meteors and get our eyes used to the night," said Ian Musgrave, who was with the group.

"The weather was absolutely clear, and everyone was wondering if the predictions would be right."

"Around 1.30am, a huge meteor shoots up from just above the horizon and goes screaming across the other side of the sky," Musgrave enthused.

"It was an incredible feeling and we knew something was about to start."

He said that more and more meteors started coming.

"One appeared to come from Orion and through the Magellanic Cloud. Another split in two as it came through the sky," he said.

"Everyone was very excited. Every time someone saw one they'd call out the direction, and people would look and cheer."

"Most of them were a yellow/orange colour but one beautiful bright bluish meteor went straight through the Southern Cross."

Musgrave said the first peak of the meteor storm occurred at 3.20 am (17.20 UT) which agreed with the predictions. At this stage he counted up to 260 every 15 minutes.

"At one stage I remember four meteors going across the sky at the same time," he said.

"But then I just couldn't count any more," said Musgrave, who was only using pen and paper.

Other observers using tape and counters, however, counted around 600 meteors per 15 minutes, equal to the expected rate of 2,000 to 3,000 per hour.

The later peak occurred at around 4.15 am (18.15 UT). The number of meteors the Alice Springs group saw at this time was lower than the predicted rate, but according to Musgrave, this could be explained by the onset of twilight, and the dominance of dimmer meteors with shorter tails.

Early analysis of other observations of the second peak, after correcting for location and atmospheric absorption, were in line with predictions, he said.

And before the night ended, there was one last hurrah to be had.

"As dawn came and people were wearing out, someone shouted 'Did you see that!?"

"We looked up and a brilliant one goes straight into the dawn. It just burst across the sky like a blue and white fire ball."

Worldwide reports

North America also provided a good vantage point for the Leonid storm, with NASA reporting a rate of 1250 meteors per hour seen from Hawaii.

Reports from observations around the world will be fed to the International Meteor Organization which will process the data and apply correction factors. Official counts are expected in a few days.

According to the BBC, bad weather hindered skywatchers in many parts of the world, from Tokyo to Sydney, where would-be observer Bill Yeoman reports: "I woke my children to come and see this. They took one look out the window and went straight back to bed."

For those poor souls who missed the event, a consolation prize may be in the offing. According to Musgrave, Australia may have a naked-eye comet for Christmas.